Garmin MapSource is very mediocre software, and there is lots to not like about it, including not only its poor design and operation, but the non-USA data sources are abysmal. To put it in perspective, I have their mapset for the USA/Hawaii/Alaska. It's three CDs, and very detailed. I have their world ex-USA, too. It's one cd. It's got basically nothing. The Singapore section is basically worthless.
The poor operation of the software we can curse, tolerate, and workaround. The lack of decent map data, however, is going to make our 4wd trip through the Australian Outback harder.
I have found a potential answer. A company called Hema Maps produces detailed Australian Desert Track maps. They've converted these to a single CD called the "Great Desert Tracks CD-ROM". I asked them what I can do with the cd. Turns out it is only a data source -- there is no viewing capability. The CD is to be read by a program called OziExplorer.
Checking the site out, it seems like an Australian version of MapSource. The website is somewhat tacky, and shouts out small-time-operation, but perhaps the software is built better than MapSource. I've just skimmed it superficially, but already I've found one alarming thing. It implies that their "map creation" (you can create your own map features) is unable to upload the maps you create to any Garmin GPS. I'd have to get more clarification on this. At any rate, we should investigate this program as an alternate to Garmin Mapsource.
This weekend perhaps I'll download their evaluation copies and see how they run. The software costs $75 and some sort of 3-d add-on costs an additional $25. I'm going to do myself the favor of reading the support groups and see what kind of complaints are coming out about the software. Maybe spare myself some headache if this thing turns out to be a piece of shit.
Of course, hopefully our need for this product will be mooted by the completion of The Eldie Pre-cog sub-metre terrain tracking and visualization system.
Posted by Nils Blutig at October 16, 2002 02:13 PM | TrackBack